by A. J. Riley
She passed Stacy’s desk. “I’m going home to pack and catch a flight back to Russ.”
She caught Stacy’s uplifted eyebrow and quickly amended “A flight back to the resort. I don’t know what happened to that file, but I need you to find it. I have four days to figure out what happened, and whether or not I will use what I already did or go in a different direction. This might be my chance, but I need to get to the resort first.”
Stacy stood up and hugged her “I can tell that you don’t want to talk about it right now but when you get back I’ll bring a bottle of wine over and I want the scoop on whoever Russ is. I have never seen you rush around for a man before or put him before doing something for a client. Did you take my advice after all?”
Amanda chuckled, feeling light hearted for the first time since she walked out of the hotel. “I promise that you will be the first person I call the minute I land.”
Russ had been in a foul mood all day, barking orders at all the staff. Things that he would normally overlook were a thorn in his side today. Every time he passed an employee either they wouldn’t make eye contact with him or they turned and changed direction. That was all fine with him. He was furious.
How could she just pack up and leave? No note, no phone call, nothing. She just disappeared. What’s even worse than that was she didn’t even take her pain in the ass sister with her. Janice had asked just about every hotel staff member where she could find him. They all misdirected her, per his instructions, but she persisted.
By that evening, he just couldn’t work anymore. He needed a distraction. A distraction from thinking about Amanda and frankly a distraction from his horrible mood. Walking into the bar he was glad Steph was there, he plopped onto a bar stool and caught her eye. From the look she sent his way word of his foul mood must have reached her. Without asking, she poured him a double scotch and set it in front of him.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No” he grumbled and slammed the shot back. “Another. And keep them coming.”
With a shake of her head, she walked to the back wall of the bar, grabbed a fresh bottle off the shelf, and set it in front of him. “Here, this will save me a few trips.”
Russ just grumbled at her and poured himself another.
He was too engrossed with his progress through the bottle that he hadn’t realized that the bar was starting to empty out. He was staring at the door hoping that he could make Amanda magically appear when her sister walked in.
“Damn” he grumbled and returned his eyes to the empty glass in front of him. He could smell Janice’s perfume long before he heard her. He hated women that wore so much perfume you could choke on the air around them. It was nauseating.
“Hey, mind if I join you?” Janice asked.
“I’m not much for company right now.” Hoping that she would take the hint. He didn’t want her, he only wanted her sister. Damn he had it bad. How was he going to find her? Sure, he had her information from when she checked in, but he couldn’t just show up on her doorstep. Could he? No, he thought shaking his head. He would look like a total stalker.
Janice must not have taken the hint because she sat on the stool next to him, angling her body in a way, that had their legs rubbing against each other and then snapped her fingers in Steph’s direction to get her attention.
“What will you have?” Steph asked her.
Russ could hear the controlled fury in Stephanie’s voice, but Russ just looked at Steph and gave a slight shake of his head. Silently advising to just let it go.
“A glass of white wine.”
Steph eyed the bottle in front of Russ and shook her head in disgust. She returned in a minute with Janice’s wine and asked Russ if he wanted coffee. Russ looked at her, grumbled a no, and waved her away.
“Wow rough day at work?” Janice asked as she refilled his empty glass from the bottle sitting in front of him.
He emptied the glass in one gulp “You could say that.” He propped his elbow on the bar and laid his head in his hand staring into the now empty glass as if it would answer all his questions and tell him what to do.
“I tried to tell you that you would have more fun with me. I wouldn’t have run out on you like that. I wouldn’t put anything before you.” He heard Janice purr before she refilled his glass.
“Listen I don’t want to talk about your sister. That’s between her and I.” At least he didn’t sound drunk to his own ears. Furious, but not drunk. He could live with that.
“Fine I don’t want to talk about her either. Look, your bartender is giving us evil looks let’s move this to a table.” She picked up her glass of wine, his bottle and started to walk away from him toward a table in a dark corner of the bar. He noticed that she was swishing her hips hoping he would notice her ass with every step she took, he could have told her that sure he noticed but it didn’t do anything for him.
It flashed across his drunken mind that he shouldn’t follow her, that was just want she wanted, but the question was, is this what he wanted? A way that would get back at Amanda. He knew that it would get back to her, he was sure that Janice would run to her sister and rub it in. The only problem was he didn’t know if she would even care. Maybe Janice had been right all along, and Amanda was just playing with him. A way to pass the time until she went back to her real life. Russ took a deep breath and started to grab his glass. Before he could completely get up, he felt a warm hand cover his.
“Look, normally I’d never even think to tell you how to live your life, but you don’t want to do this.” Steph said with concern in her eyes. Russ didn’t want to see it in her face and he sure as hell didn’t want to hear how wrong this was. He already knew this was the wrong choice, but he was going to do it anyway.
“You’re over stepping Steph. What I do and who I do it with is none of your concern. Maybe this is just what I need.” Russ snapped and jerked his hand away from hers. He then wobbled his way to where Janice was seated.
Russ didn’t know how long the two of them sat at the table drinking. Well he had been drinking and she sat there with a grin on her face a mile wide. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this to himself or Amanda. It would be wrong. His thoughts were interrupted when Janice leaned over and removed the empty glass from his hand.
“Let’s go up to my room and finish our drinks. I have an amazing view.”
His brain was telling him this was a bad idea, but he let her grab his hand and turn him toward the bar entrance. An arm suddenly blocked his exit.
“Where are you two going?” Greg asked Russ.
Russ was unfocused as he looked at his best friend. He knew Greg wanted to stop him, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. He didn’t want to care about anything but turning his brain off. He didn’t want to think, he sure as hell didn’t want to feel, and if he let Greg stop him then he knew he would have to tell him that the woman he loved ran out on him and that was just too much for him. Russ fumbled to remove Greg’s arm and pushed past him. Well as much as his drunken state would let him.
Russ saw Greg shake his head. “You know this is wrong. She isn’t the one you want. I know how to find Amanda.” Even Russ’ glare didn’t stop Greg from talking. “You are going to hate yourself if you do this, and there will be no going back. It’s her fucking sister.” Greg’s angered yell almost succeeded in piercing the drunk fog around his mind.
Russ turned and brought his blurry red eyes up and looked right into Greg’s eyes, “Fuck off.” Then left the bar with Janice.
CHAPTER 20
As the glass doors of the hotel whooshed open Amanda took a deep breath and quickly walked to the check in desk.
“Good Evening.” The woman greeted.
Amanda tried to hide her impatience as she reserved a room for her last three days. She wanted to make the stay longer, but she couldn’t. She needed to get back and figure out what had happened to the original proposal, but right now her main objective was to find Russ, explain the situation, and ho
pefully come up with a plan to see him once she got her client sorted out. As the woman slid her room keys toward her she realized that she had been put back into the same room she had before.
With a small smile playing on her lips she thanked the woman and strode toward the elevators. Her eyes scanned the lobby hoping that she would run into Russ and finding him wouldn’t be as hard as she expected it to be. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed a man sitting in the bar. His profile to her, it ran across her mind her mind that he seemed vaguely familiar, but she knew that it wasn’t Russ. Putting the man out of her mind she stepped onto the elevator and tapped her foot impatiently.
Amanda dropped her bag in the room and glanced around. It felt like coming home being in the same room. She looked longingly at the bed wishing for a moment that she could curl up and take a nap. It had been a long stressful day but finding Russ was her priority, as she walked out of the room Amanda briefly looked toward Janice’s door. Maybe she should let her know that she was back.
Standing in front of the door with a hand raised to knock she halted. Janice would be completely horrible if she woke her up and Amanda didn’t want to have to deal with her in that mood, but what really made Amanda stop from knocking was the thought that maybe Janice was with someone and she would be interrupting. She felt gross at the thought, that was one mental picture that she didn’t need.
Spinning on her heel she strode toward the elevator. She hoped that Russ was working a late shift and she wouldn’t have any trouble finding him. As she stood there waiting for the elevator she caught her foot tapping in impatience. She prayed that he would understand that it was impossible for her wait until morning to find him, she had to get back to LA and she had barely made it in time to catch the last flight out.
Making a quick circuit of the lobby and not seeing him anywhere she strode toward the darkened restaurant and hoped that maybe he was in there cleaning. Not seeing any movement, she headed toward the bar. She strode toward the end of the bar and waited for Stephanie to finish her conversation. She had to rein in her impatience to keep herself from interrupting what appeared to be a heavy discussion.
Steph looked in her direction and Amanda watched her eyes widen in surprise. Steph seemed startled to see her. Amanda watched as she whispered something to the man she had been speaking to and then headed in her direction.
“Amanda, right?” Steph asked.
Amanda smiled but didn’t want to waste time on idle chit chat. She remembered Russ saying that Steph was friends with his sister, so Amanda didn’t want to be rude to either. “Wow you have a great memory.”
“Tricks of the trade. Can I get you a drink?” she asked
“Oh, um, actually I was looking for Russ. Have you seen him?”
Amanda noticed that Steph immediately adverted her gaze at the mention of Russ’ name. What the hell was going on? Amanda cleared her suddenly dry throat, “Steph have you seen him?”
“I thought you checked out? I mean that’s what I heard. You left in the middle of the night.”
She couldn’t help the blush that spread across her face at Steph’s accusatory tone. “Well it wasn’t exactly the middle of the night like I was sneaking off. I had an emergency come up at work and it couldn’t be helped. I came here almost straight from that meeting.”
“Too bad not right from.” Steph said under her breath.
“What was that?” Amanda frowned.
“Nothing, I haven’t seen him in some time. I think he may have gone home for the night. He had a rough day.”
Crestfallen she glanced at her watch. She had wanted to see him so bad. After a good night’s sleep, he might be more inclined to accept her apology. “Is he working later today? Or do you know where I can find him? I don’t want him to think that I ran out. I wanted a chance to explain what happened.” Why was she explaining all this to Steph when Russ was the one that was owed the explanation?
“Oh, he’s always here just wait, and you can find him later in the morning. You look beat.”
Sarcastically Amanda replied, “Oh gee thanks.”
“Oh No that’s not what I meant.” Steph stammered.
“That’s okay. If you see him will you let him know I’m looking for him?”
“Sure thing.”
With that reassurance she left the bar and headed back to the room. She was exhausted and in need of a hot shower to relax her tense muscles. After a few hours’ sleep she would be in a better frame of mind to get through to Russ if he held it against her that she had to leave without saying goodbye.
Amanda dressed in a light blue sun dress that hugged her curves and paired it with white slip on tennis hoses. She tried to apply her makeup to hide the dark circles, but it didn’t seem to help. She wanted to look nice when she saw Russ and begged for his understanding, but she also wanted to be comfortable in case they had the opportunity to get out of the hotel and go exploring again. Checking her reflection in the mirror she headed toward the door not able to stand being in the room a minute longer. With a last glance in the mirror, she opened her door, completely unprepared for the sight that met her eyes.
Coming out of the door across the hall, her sister’s room no less, was Russ. Guess she didn’t have to look too hard to find him. Her heart started to hammer, and she thought she was going to be sick. Even though she knew that this was going to happen she still wasn’t prepared for the gut wrenching feeling of loss that knifed through her. Even knowing that Janice would make a move as soon as Amanda was gone, what she couldn’t comprehend was how Russ fell for it.
She had really thought that they had a connection. Feelings that went deeper than a vacation romance. Well at least she did and from the looks of his rumpled clothes, she now knew that he didn’t. Not seeming able to make her body move she stood frozen, he either hadn’t noticed her yet or was going to try and ignore her. She wanted to turn back and dive into the room, but she couldn’t get her body to obey the commands. Her breath started to come in shallow pants, and she thought she was going to pass out, but Russ took that moment to lift his blood shot eyes to hers.
Russ stumbled through the door, he had barely made it out of there. What had he been thinking last night? He hadn’t been, that was the point, wasn’t it? As he heard the door latch behind him he leaned up against the wall and scrubbed a hand across his face. He had to get out of there, grab a shower, and figure out what he was going to do about Amanda.
It occurred to him that his first thoughts last night were the correct ones. He needed to use whatever means necessary to find her, even if it meant looking like a stalker. Determinedly he pushed away from the wall, as his gaze lifted from the floor he felt his breath catch when his eyes met Amanda’s. Was he still drunk or did his thoughts of her conjure her? He wouldn’t put it past himself to be hallucinating after the amount of alcohol he drank.
He wanted to rush over and take her in his arms until he caught the horror in her eyes. He saw the hurt and accusation flit across her face. For a moment, it didn’t register in his mind why she would be looking at him like that, then he remembered where he was. Where he was coming from. Just as he was going to open his mouth to explain the door behind him opened.
“Hey, you forgot your belt.”
CHAPTER 21
The moment Janice stepped out of the door there was no more pretending this wasn’t happening. For a moment her heart wanted to believe that there was a logical explanation for what she was seeing. Her mind couldn’t produce one, but she wanted to believe in her heart that she was not seeing this. That he wasn’t slinking out of her sister’s room. There was no denying the fact now.
Spinning away from the scene in front of her it finally registered that she still had her room key in her hand. Jamming it into the reader she silently prayed that the light would turn green and her door would open before either of them said a word to her. The moment she was safe in the room and the door closed she sank to the floor trying to get the image of Russ and Janice out of h
er head.
She sat on the floor and sobbed for all the hopes that she had. For the fantasy of Russ that she had built in her mind. A mind that was starting to torture her with images of Russ and Janice together. Had he kissed Janice like he had kissed her? Like she was his lifeline. Like there was no one else in the world but her?
Had he whispered the same soft words to Janice while they were making love that he had said to Amanda? Did he offer to give her everything he had? Was that just some line he said to everyone he slept with? How could she have been so stupid?
Amanda went from total humiliation to rage in a few short breaths. Hell, he couldn’t even wait? Did her note mean nothing to him? Did she mean nothing to him? Well two could play that game. She would not hide. She was a Garret for Christ’s sake. She would not be treated this way she told herself. She may not have anything else but dammit she had her pride and she would not let him get away with this. She would show him what he had thrown away when he hooked up with her step sister.
Pushing herself up off the floor she strode into the bathroom, washed her face, then stared at her reflection in the mirror and gave herself a pep talk. “You will not fall apart. You came here for work. Not to fall in love with a hotel employee. A hotel employee, really Amanda your grandfather would be shocked. He would never approve. Remember all you have ever wanted to do is prove that you are worthy to take over his company. Get out there and prove that Russ didn’t mean a damn thing to you.”
Amanda flung her door open and stepped into the now empty corridor. She said a faint Thank you for the fact that Russ was not standing there any longer and walked toward the elevator. She entered the elevator with her head held high. She even managed a smile to the other occupants and rode down in silence. She could do this, she told herself.
Amanda’s bravado lasted until the elevator dinged signaling she had reached the lobby. Who was she kidding? First of all, her grandfather would be proud of who ever she chose as long as she was happy. Secondly, she loved him, even if it was hard to admit to herself right now. She seemed to be walking on autopilot. Even when most people were heading to the restaurant for lunch, she headed to the bar. She needed to steel her nerves because she knew she would have to deal with Russ and Janice eventually.